Best Rail Solutions in Turkish Cities

Turkish cities started more and more using rail solutions for public transport.

The total network is more than 500 kilometers and the rolling stock exceeds 1800. Monthy ridership reaches to almost 100 mn.

Below table shows the monthy total ridership by cities including metros, LRVs and trams:

City

Monthy Ridership

İstanbul

47.466.228

İzmir

16.018.000

Ankara

9.975.956

Bursa

5.741.667

Eskişehir

3.861.212

Kayseri

2.790.133

Konya

2.116.684

Gaziantep

1.950.000

Samsun

1.548.174

Antalya

1.200.000

Adana

1.200.000

Adapazarı

52.000

As seen, Istanbul has half of the rail passengers in urban transport. Istanbul has also the longest rail network, biggest rail car fleet and also started producing its own trams.

Let’s examine the figures comparing with the population of the cities. Eskisehir Tram (Estram), having UITP’s 2004 Rail Award, has the biggest coverage, where each citizen rides on rail almost 5 times a month. Izmir and Istanbul are following Eskisehir.

City

Transport Frequency per Citizen*

Eskişehir

4,8

İzmir

3,9

İstanbul

3,4

Kayseri

2,2

Bursa

2,1

Ankara

2,0

Samsun

1,2

Gaziantep

1,1

Konya

1,0

Adana

0,6

Antalya

0,6

Adapazarı

0,1

* Monthy ridership/city population (based on 2013 TUIK population statistics)

Another criteria is ridership per kilometer, which may help us understanding how efficient the rail system is. Istanbul has top ridership/km, where Eskisehir and Izmir follows:

City

Ridership/Length

İstanbul

342.964

Eskişehir

241.326

İzmir

160.180

Bursa

126.190

Antalya

109.091

Ankara

108.317

Samsun

98.610

Konya

96.213

Adana

88.889

Kayseri

82.063

Gaziantep

75.000

Adapazarı

5.200

Of course, there are different rail systems in cities which may cause unfair comparisons. So let’s examine metro, LRV, tram and suburban systems separetely.

Metros

There are 4 cities in Turkey with metros. Istanbul has the biggest network in terms of length and ridership.

City

Lines

Length (km)

Ridership

Ridership/Length

İstanbul

5

90,5

28.731.004

317.470

İzmir

1

20

8.250.000

412.500

Ankara

3

46,6

6.041.802

129.652

Adana

1

13,5

1.200.000

88.889

LRVs

LRVs are mainly overground with less capacity compared with metro systems. There are 3 cities with LRV network. Bursa has the biggest network in terms of length and ridership.

City

Lines

Length (km)

Ridership

Ridership/Length

Bursa (Bursaray)

2

39

5.491.667

140.812

Ankara (Ankaray)

1

8,5

2.824.154

332.253

Gaziantep

3

26

1.950.000

75.000

Trams

Trams are completely overground, sometimes using same space with cars, ability to run within streets and make sharp turns, having low capacity.

Istanbul has the second longest tram network with 2 lines, and has the biggest ridership.

Eskisehir is the second in ridership list, running 7 lines in considerably short network (16 km).

Kayseri has the longest tram network with 34 km, running 2 lines and is the third in ridership list.

City

Lines

Length (km)

Ridership

Ridership/Length

Istanbul*

2

33,8

13.200.657

390.552

Eskisehir (Estram)

7

16

3.861.212

241.326

Kayseri

2

34

2.790.133

82.063

Konya

1

22

2.116.684

96.213

Samsun

1

15,7

1.548.174

98.610

Antalya*

1

11

1.200.000

109.091

Bursa*

1

6,5

250.000

38.462

* Old tram lines are excluded. Bursa statistics are based on first three months after opening.

Izmit (Kocaeli) will be added to cities with tram systems in 2017.

Suburban Lines

Suburban lines are the urban service on national rail network, which is given directly by or in cooperation with TCDD.